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lol im not looking at the negative side of things. And i never said competitions in sport or anything are wrong and should not happen.

Im purely talking about people arguing. Saying my country did this and is great!! Then someone else going well mine did this and is better!
Elite athletes i have the utter most respect for and tournaments and competitions are fantastic!!! But people dont play SS tournament then go oi im better than you because my racket has blue strings and looks pretty!!!!

lol im not looking at the negative side of things. And i never said competitions in sport or anything are wrong and should not happen.

Im purely talking about people arguing. Saying my country did this and is great!! Then someone else going well mine did this and is better!
Elite athletes i have the utter most respect for and tournaments and competitions are fantastic!!! But people dont play SS tournament then go oi im better than you because my racket has blue strings and looks pretty!!!!

Loh, I understand that the coach who was key to Singapore winning an Olympics silver in table tennis was treated shabilly. Understandbly he left. Do you think this will adversely impact on Singapore's chances of repeating such achievements?

Loh, I understand that the coach who was key to Singapore winning an Olympics silver in table tennis was treated shabilly. Understandbly he left. Do you think this will adversely impact on Singapore's chances of repeating such achievements?

Yes it was an unfortunate that the matter was blown up in the press.

As I recall, it started with the Chinese 'chief' coach, Liu Guodong, not being present to attend to Singapore's No.1, Gao Ning, in the men's singles third-round match at the Beijing Olympics and he lost to a lower-ranked Croat. The 'chief' coach thought that another coach would be in attendance to provide guidance but somehow the second coach got sick, I think, and was not there. So Gao played without a coach and he attributed much of his loss to this absence.

The 'chief' coach got reprimanded but he defended himself by concentrating his resources on and making sure our women's team achieved the historic Olympic Games silver medal which made Singapore proud. Our only silver medal came from Tan Howe Liang in weightlifting some 40 years ago.

At the recent awards nomination, this women's table tennis team, comprising Li Jiawei, Wang Yuegu, Feng Tianwei and Sun Beibei was awarded the "Senior Team of the Year (Event)". However their coach Liu, whom many considered as deserving to be nominated as "Coach of the Year" was not nominated by the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) and the reason given by STTA's president Lee Bee Wah was (as quoted in The Straits Times, May 6 2009):

"Results are not the only criterion to the STTA. A Coach of the Year has to be professional, have integrity, be able to gel the team, and is well-respected by all his players."

In any case, nominated coaches from other sports did not win this award. Neither was there a winner for the Sportsman of the Year.

Even past winners, Li Jiawei and swimmer Tao Li lost to Jasmine Yeong-Nathan (bowling) for the Sportswoman of the Year title.

Another coach from China who last coached in Europe, France, I think is now in charge of the women's table tennis team. He came with impressive credentials and his familiarity with the Western play style seems to have helped our women players.

But many other countries are improving and they are engaging good coaches, so competition remains very tough. But our girls have experienced success before and know that they will continue to have a chance as long as they remain committed to their goal.

lol im not looking at the negative side of things. And i never said competitions in sport or anything are wrong and should not happen.

Im purely talking about people arguing. Saying my country did this and is great!! Then someone else going well mine did this and is better!
Elite athletes i have the utter most respect for and tournaments and competitions are fantastic!!! But people dont play SS tournament then go oi im better than you because my racket has blue strings and looks pretty!!!!

whatever lol go back to your arguing guys.

lol, don't misunderstood this thread. Being proud of your country's achievements and share with other people. What is so wrong? No, that doesn't make Singapore better than Malaysia or Australia, rite? We do have our own achievements.

lol, don't misunderstood this thread. Being proud of your country's achievements and share with other people. What is so wrong? No, that doesn't make Singapore better than Malaysia or Australia, rite? We do have our own achievements.

Of course you are right.

Singapore certainly has a lot to catch up on and this is a reminder that while we still have a long way to go, the little achievements we made along the way will count towards the end. The achievements of others, especially the much bigger and advanced countries, will spur us on to doing something memorable for ourselves and we should not give up trying to do better.

..SQ and its Singapore Girls with their "Sarong Kebaya" uniform, which of course derived from its early days of its predecessor, the MSA (Malaysia-Singapore Airlines)..

Chicken rice also, mah!
And now we are exporting to other countries it seems.

Well on SIA, just like most of the other national airlines, this global recession and the recent H1N1 "swine" flu pandemic have severely hit SIA's performance. It will be extremely difficult for SIA to remain at the top this year.

The Skytrax World Airline Awards 2009

Cathay Pacific Airways picked up the 2009 Airline of the Year award at the first live SKYTRAX World Airline Awards ceremony held in Hamburg, Germany on 1st April 2009.

The SKYTRAX World Airline Awards celebrated their tenth anniversary with around 500 people attending the 2009 Awards ceremony in Hamburg to see the winning airlines receive their accolades. Edward Plaisted (CEO of Skytrax) handed out awards in 34 categories - the winners being selected by the airline industry's most important audience, it's customers.

More than 16 million air travellers drawn from over 95 different nationalities took part in the 8 month long survey. The awards are recognised around the world for being the only true global independent passenger survey of airline standards. The survey does not receive any third party sponsorship and is entirely funded by Skytrax.

Edward Plaisted said: "the Cathay Pacific victory this year is the third occasion in the last ten years they have won this prestige title. A factor behind the Cathay Pacific win is clearly the consistency of product and service that they provide to their customers. Not only are Cathay Pacific satisfying their passengers onboard flights, but the ratings they achieved for their airport operations in Hong Kong also played a considerable part in this success".

Malaysia Airlines took the title of Worlds Best Cabin Staff, this being an amazing achievement and represents the 6th time they have secured this top Award in ten years.

Another repeat winner in the Airline Awards, was Emirates who were named winner of Best Airline Inflight Entertainment - for the 6th time in ten years.

Singapore Airlines won two key awards, taking the Best Airline First Class and Best First Class Airline Catering titles.

Qatar Airways proved to be a popular winner, being named the Best Airline in the Middle East and also walking away with the award for Best Economy Class. performance to take this Award".

Etihad Airways was named as Best Business Class, also taking the award for Business Class Catering.

Turkish Airlines success being named Best Airline Southern Europe .

Elsewhere in Europe, success was enjoyed by Swiss International Air Lines who were voted the Best Airline Europe for 2009, British Airways taking the accolade as Best Transatlantic Airline and CSA Czech Airlines as Best Airline Central Europe.

Aegean Airlines leapt up the rankings this year, and it was a delight to see them named as the winner of the Best Regional Airline Europe title.

Across the airport environment, honours were shared amongst Virgin Atlantic and Thai Airways. It was a double celebration for Virgin Atlantic, with their London Heathrow Clubhouse enjoying a successive win as Best Business Class lounge, whilst Virgin also took the title as Best Premium Economy Class airline.

Thai Airways First Class Lounge at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport take the honour as Best First Class Lounge. In addition to lounge facilities and amenities that many lounges provide, this Thai Airways facility is well known for its Royal Orchid Spa offering a full ranges of service including Foot-massage and traditional Thai massage, 3 Spa Suites with Jacuzzi.

Further success in Thailand was enjoyed by Bangkok Airways winning the 2009 award as the Best Regional Airline Asia.

In the Southern Hemisphere, Qantas was named Best Airline Australasia with the Best Low Cost Airline Australasia award going to their subsidiary, JetStar Airways.

Korean based Asiana Airlines were in triumphant mood, walking away with the title of Best Transpacific Airline, and in the culinary sector being named winner of the Best Economy Class Catering award.

Continental Airlines enjoyed success for a consecutive year after being named winner of the Best Airline North America category, proving to be a popular win at the awards ceremony. LAN Airlines took the title as Best Airline South America in the 2009 awards.

South African Airways maintained their grip across the African continent, being named the Best Airline Africa.

The Skytrax World Airline Awards recognise the importance of the low cost airline sector, and this was a major part of the passenger survey. AirAsia was named the Worlds Best Low Cost Airline for 2009, ahead of Air Berlin (2nd) and easyJet (3rd).

"AirAsia is not only one of the pioneering low cost airlines in Asia, but also the first pure low cost to launch long haul operations (having recently started flying between Malaysia and the UK) and many will be watching this carefully to see if such transformation can be successful" said Plaisted.

Although missing the top spot on a global basis, Air Berlin enjoyed success being named as the Best Low Cost Airline in Europe, this being the most competitive low cost airline market in the world.

With the last 12 months seeing each of the major airline alliances all adding new member airlines, the 2009 award for Best Airline Alliance was won by Star Alliance.

[QUOTE=
At the recent awards nomination, this women's table tennis team, comprising Li Jiawei, Wang Yuegu, Feng Tianwei and Sun Beibei was awarded the "Senior Team of the Year (Event)". However their coach Liu, whom many considered as deserving to be nominated as "Coach of the Year" was not nominated by the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) and the reason given by STTA's president Lee Bee Wah was (as quoted in The Straits Times, May 6 2009):

"Results are not the only criterion to the STTA. A Coach of the Year has to be professional, have integrity, be able to gel the team, and is well-respected by all his players."

In any case, nominated coaches from other sports did not win this award. Neither was there a winner for the Sportsman of the Year.

Even past winners, Li Jiawei and swimmer Tao Li lost to Jasmine Yeong-Nathan (bowling) for the Sportswoman of the Year title...[QUOTE]

Oh I've forgotten to mention that Badminton secured an award as well:

Junior Team of the Year (Event)

National Badminton Girls Doubles Team:

Yao Lei and Fu Mingtian
They will receive S$8,000.

I suppose our two ladies have impressed the judges with their shock win at the World Junior Championships 2008, Women's Doubles event. This WD event has been dominated by China since 1992.

Specially for you Dato, perhaps one long-time record that few countries can beat Singapore is its government.

The People's Action Party (PAP) has governed Singapore since 1959 when it achieved self-government from the British and this party continued to rule after full independence from 1965 till now and still going strong... a political span of about 50 years.

Recently I visited the Asian Civilisations Museum to view the Emperor Kangxi exhibition and found out that he was a Mongul who captured a great part of Han China and ruled it for 60 years. During his reign he managed to expand the territory of China and brought prosperity and recognition to China.

Specially for you Dato, perhaps one long-time record that few countries can beat Singapore is its government.

The People's Action Party (PAP) has governed Singapore since 1959 when it achieved self-government from the British and this party continued to rule after full independence from 1965 till now and still going strong... a political span of about 50 years.

Recently I visited the Asian Civilisations Museum to view the Emperor Kangxi exhibition and found out that he was a Mongul who captured a great part of Han China and ruled it for 60 years. During his reign he managed to expand the territory of China and brought prosperity and recognition to China.

Loh, Emperor Kangxi was not a Mongolian or Mongul. He was a Manchu or Manchurian and was the second Qing Emperor of China after succeeding his father the Shunzhi Emperor.

Loh, Emperor Kangxi was not a Mongolian or Mongul. He was a Manchu or Manchurian and was the second Qing Emperor of China after succeeding his father the Shunzhi Emperor.

Yes you are right, I wasn't sure and got mixed up with Mongul. He was Manchu, from a relatively small country right up north of China, if I recall rightly from the map shown. Kangxi was apparently a very skilled horseman and archer. The Manchus then were very good soldiers as well. In a huge portrait painting of him his right thumb wears an archer's ring.

The impression I got was that the Manchus were not as literate and 'civil' as the Chinese Hans, and were probably looked upon as more barbaric, but Emperor Kangxi took the trouble to study the Chinese classics, Chinese calligraphy and Confucian thoughts and became a learned person himself. In addition he was also willing to learn Western science and mathematics from visiting Jesuit priests and the exchanges and interaction with the West helped him to expand his empire and bring about improved ways of doing things, like in creating ceramic art, and encouraged innovation and invention.